Bag drawstring threader

ABSTRACT

An elongated tube rigidly supported horizontally at one end portion is arcuately curved, to substantially describe a circle with the free end portion of its curved end underlying in spaced relation an intermediate portion of the tube. The free end portion of a drawstring, from a supply spool, extends longitudinally through the bore of the tube and beyond its free end. One end of the drawstring receiving loop, at the mouth of a bag to be drawstring threaded, progressively accepts the free arcuately curved end of the threading tube until the drawstring loop of the bag is substantially coextensive with the circular path defined by the threading tube.

atet

Davis et al.

[451 Sept. 5, 1972 BAG DRAWSTRING THREADER Inventors: Buell L. Davis; Richard D. Pulliam, both of 311 NW. 8, Oklahoma City, Okla. 73102 Filed: Feb. 25, 1971 Appl. No.2 118,719

US. Cl. ..29/241, 248/97, 223/50 Int. Cl. ..B23p 19/04 Field of Search .....29/24l, 433; 223/50; 248/97,

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 8/1914 Newcomb ..223/50 3/1959 Cohen ..29/241 1l/1963 Park ..29/433 X 6/1966 Frazier ..248/99 Primary Examiner-Robert C. Riordon Assistant Examiner-J. C. Peters AttorneyRobert K. Rhea [5 7] ABSTRACT An elongated tube rigidly supported horizontally at one end portion is arcuately curved, to substantially describe a circle with the free end portion of its curved end underlying in spaced relation an intermediate portion of the tube. The free end portion of a drawstring, from a supply spool, extends longitudinally through the bore of the tube and beyond its free end. One end of the drawstring receiving loop, at the mouth of a bag to be drawstring threaded, progressively accepts the free arcuately curved end of the threading tube until the drawstring loop of the bag is substantially coextensive with the circular path defined by the threading tube.

2 Claims, 5 Drawing Figures PATENTEDSEP 5 m2 BUELL L. DAVIS CHARD. D. PULLIAM INVENTORS.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to drawstring loop or eyelet equipped bags and more particularly to an apparatus for installing drawstrings therein.

Relatively large fabric bags are commonly used for temporarily storing soiled linens and clothing to be laundered. These bags, commonly referred to as laundry bags, are generally equipped with a drawstring loop at their mouth or open end. These bags usually become soiled by reason of being in contact with a floor, or the like, and it is generally necessary that these bags be laundered at the time the contents thereof are laundered. When laundering the drawstring bags it is generally desirable that the drawstring be removed to prevent tangling of the drawstring with the bag or other articles being laundered. Furthermore, if the drawstring is not removed from an eyelet equipped bag before laundering, the drawstring is usually removed from the bag by the washing action. It is a tedious and time consuming operation to insert a used or new drawstring into the drawstring loop of the laundered bags. It is, therefore, desirable that some means be provided for quickly and easily inserting a new drawstring into the drawstring receiving loop after the bag has been laundered.

2. Description of the Prior Art The prior art generally discloses apparatus and methods for constructing drawstring bags from elongated lengths of bag forming material. These machines generally form the drawstring loop around the drawstring or insert the drawstring therein as a function of bag construction.

The Frazier US. Pat. No. 3,257,090 discloses a bag drawstring threading means comprising a U-shaped bracket having opposing ends connected to the free end of the bracket legs which receives a pair of loops formed on opposing sides of a bag.

This invention is distinctive over this patent in that it provides a single threading tube having a drawstring extending through its bore so that a bag drawstring loop may be progressively threaded over the free end of the drawstring equipped tube.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An elongated tube is rigidly supported horizontally at one end by a stand, or the like. The major portion of the tube, including its other end portion, is arcuately curved to substantially describe a circle lying in a substantially horizontal plane with the free end portion of the curved end of the tube underlapping an intermediate portion of the tube to complete the substantially circular configuration. The diameter of the circle described is preferably slightly less than the diameter of the bag to be drawstring threaded. The free end portion of a drawstring from a spooled supply is extended through the bore of the threading tube and beyond the free end of its curved portion. One end of a drawstring receiving loop of a bag is progressively threaded over the curved end of the drawstring threading tube until the full length of the bag drawstring loop surrounds the circle described by the tube. The free end of the drawstring is manually grasped with he bag drawstring loop adjacent the free end of the circular portion of the tube and the bag is removed from the drawstring threading tube. The drawstring is then cut at a point beyond the other end of the bag drawstring receiving loop.

The principal object of this invention is to provide a drawstring rethreading apparatus for drawstring equipped bags.

BRIEF DESCRIPTIPON OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a fragmentary perspective view illustrating conventional drawstring receiving loops formed at the mouth of a fabric bag;

FIG. 2 is a perspective view, to a different scale, of the device in operative position illustrating, by dotted lines, the position of a drawstring loop equipped bag in drawstring rethreaded position;

FIG. 3 is a fragmentary vertical cross-sectional view, to an enlarged scale, taken substantially along the line 3-3 of FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is a fragmentary perspective view illustrating an eyelet equipped drawstring receiving mouth end portion of a fabric bag; and,

FIG. 5 is a fragmentary perspective view of another embodiment of the device illustrating, by dotted lines, the eyelet equipped bag of FIG. 4 in drawstring rethreaded position.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Like characters of reference designate like parts in those figures of the drawings in which they occur.

In the drawings:

The reference numeral 10 indicates a relatively large fabric bag, such as a laundry bag, having an open end with the fabric at the open or mouth end of the bag doubled back upon itself to for a loop 12, secured by stitching 14 to form a circumferential drawstring receiving opening 16. The loop 12 is transversely slit or cut to define open ends for the loop through which opposing end portions IS and 20 of a flexible cord or drawstring l7 protrude for closing and tying the mouth of the bag. It is with such a substantially conventional bag that the present invention is intended to be used.

The device, indicted generally at 22, comprises a stand or bracket which includes a horizontal base 24 vertically supporting a post or standard 26 having a laterally projecting horizontal arm 28 secured to its upper end. An elongated relatively small tubular member 30 has one of its end portions 32 projection horizontally through an aperture 34 formed in the free end portion of the arm 28 and secured by a set screw 36. The other and greater length end portion of the tubular member 30 is arcuately curved, as at 38, to substantially describe a circle with its free end portion 40 thereof underlying, in spaced relation, an intermediate portion of the tube near the juncture of its arm supported straight end portion 32 with the curved portion 38. The tip end of this free end portion 40 has its walls beveled or tapered in axial converging relation to form a blunt pointed tip end 41 with its axial opening freely receiving, in sliding relation, the drawstring cord 17. The diameter of the tubular member 30 is such that it may be loosely received by the bag loop opening 16 and the diameter of the circular portion 38 of the tubular member is preferably slightly less than the diameter of the bag for the reasons presently apparent. Obviously the arm 28 may be supported by a wall bracket, not shown, if desired.

The free end portion of the elongated cord or drawstring 17, from a spooled supply 42, is extended through the bore of the tubular member 30 so that a selected length of its free end portion projects beyond the free end 41 of the tube and forms the drawstring end portion 20.

One end of the bag loop 12 is manually positioned over the threading tube free tip end 41 and the loop 12 is progressively moved around the circular configuration 38 of the tubular member until the opposite open end of the bag loop 12 is positioned adjacent the tube end 41, as shown by dotted lines in FIG. 2. This exposes the free end 41 of the tubular member and a portion of the drawstring end portion 20. The drawstring end portion 20, having been doubled back along the tube end portion 40 by the loop 12 enveloping the tube, is then manually pulled out of the bag loop 12 and grasped with the surrounding end portion of the loop 12 while the bag loop is unthreaded from the circular portion 38 by moving the bag loop in a reverse direction from its tube receiving action. A selected length of the cord or drawstring 17 is pulled out of the tube end portion 41 and this pulled out portion of the drawstring is then cut off, in spaced relation with respect to the adjacent end of the loop 12, as by manually placing the drawstring across a knife-like cutting member 44 secured to the free end portion of the arm 28.

Referring now more particularly to FIGS. 4 and S, the numeral 10A indicates a fabric laundry bag, or the like, having an open mouth with the fabric at its free end doubled back upon itself, as at 46, to form a finished mouth edge portion for the bag. This finished edge portion of the bag is provided with a plurality, usually an even number, of circumferentially spacedapart metallic eyelets 50, each having a drawstring or cord receiving opening 52. A similar tubular member 30A, having one end portion 32A horizontally supported by the arm 28, has its other end portion arcuately curved to substantially describe a circle 38A diametrically smaller than the embodiment of FIG. 2.

A selected one of the eyelets 50 is coaxially placed over the free end 41A of the tubular member from the outside of the bag so that the free end portion 20 of the cord will be positioned externally of the bag. The next adjacent eyelet 50, in the selected direction of threading, is positioned over the tube free end 41A from the inside of the bag then alternatively from the outside and inside around the bag until all of the eyelets 50 surround the tube circular portion 38A, as shown by dotted lines FIG. 5). The free end portion 20 of the drawstring is manually grasped and the bag and its eyelets removed from the tube circular portion 38A wherein the drawstring is similarly cut off by the knife member 44A as described hereinabove.

Alternatively the mouth end of the bag 10A may be manually grasped to form a series of pleats each including a pair of the eyelets 50 whereby the eyelets may be threaded over the tube end 41A by pairs.

Obviously the invention is susceptible to changes or alterations without defeating its practicability, therefore, we do not wish to be confined to the preferred embodiment shown in the drawings and described herein.

We claim:

1. A drawstring threading apparatus for a drawstring closed bag comprising:

an elongated tubular member having a straight end portion and having its other end portion arcuately, curved for describing a substantially circular configuration; means rigidly supporting said straight end portion of said tubular member; and, an elongated flexible drawstring having one end portion extending through said tubular member. 2. The threading apparatus according to claim 1 in which the free end of said tubular member forming the circular configuration is characterized by an axial converging wall forming a threading tip end, said tip end terminating adjacent the juncture of said straight end portion with said circular configuration. 

1. A drawstring threading apparatus for a drawstring closed bag comprising: an elongated tubular member having a straight end portion and having its other end portion arcuately, curved for describing a substantially circular configuration; means rigidly supporting said straight end portion of said tubular member; and, an elongated flexible drawstring having one end portion extending through said tubular member.
 2. The threading apparatus according to claim 1 in which the free end of said tubular member forming the circular configuration is characterized by an axial converging wall forming a threading tip end, said tip end terminating adjacent the juncture of said straight end portion with said circular configuration. 